My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, recently back in the picture through his involvement with the Lost in Translation soundtrack, has often mentioned The Virgin Prunes and Gavin Friday in interviews.
Here’s a sample:
“‘I suppose another early influence, especially on the Irish scene was Gavin Friday and the whole Virgin Prunes thing. The Prunes existed as this loose band who’d just go off on tangents and do weird things. They used things like string machines and all these crazy instruments but they were very liberating to anyone brought up on conventional radio fodder which was all that was about. For about two years in the early ’80s they were the most amazing thing anywhere. Their moment was perfectly timed for us and we owe a great deal to their sense of adventure in music. They used to make a lot of tapes that they never released but got played on pirate radio stations and we used to tune in and get real inspiration. They were the prototype of what My Bloody Valentine are about. It was all about challenging what had gone before. They didn’t do anything the conventional way and on top of it all they made great music.”
From Guitar Magazine, date unknown.
“Our singer lived in Finglas, and Gavin Friday lived in Finglas, and I used to often walk by him. So, one day I just got the courage to say ‘Look we’re in a group and have got any advice?’ and he just said ‘Get out of Dublin’. That’s what he said. At the time, the Virgin Prunes used to do these mini-tours of Europe – Holland and Germany and stuff. So he just gave us a whole list of address of people to phone. “
From @last TV, November 30, 1998